Cornwallis clash: Let’s not honour barbarism imported from Europe

British forces prepare to fire a volley during a battle re-enactment at the Fortress of Louisbourg in July 1999. War-mongering Europeans had honed their military technology so much over the centuries that by the time they turned their horrendous capabilities on the indigenous citizens of other continents, it was no contest, writes Dan Paul. (TED PRITCHARD/File)

I find both a bit offensive. But after living in this country for 76 years, I’ve grown used to expecting such comments when a person of colour dares to express an opinion that is not eurocentric. Such is the case when I provide a Mi’kmaw perspective in reference to the horrific deeds of Halifax’s founder, Governor Edward Cornwallis.

Before proceeding, I want to provide some background. When I wrote the first edition of We Were Not the Savages in 1993 — a book about Mi’kmaq-European relations — I entitled it so because of the barbarities that Europeans had inflicted upon one another prior to 1492 and well into modern times. People of colour were subjected to these cruelties after 1492, when Europeans went abroad “discovering,” robbing and destroying the civilizations of non-Caucasian peoples.

The leadership of the European countries that quickly involved themselves in the invasions of the lands of people of colour, located on five continents, were well prepared for such an undertaking.

The following is what you would have found in such countries as England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, etc., at that time:

• The Europeans had been engaged in wars with each other that had raged off and on for untold centuries, and the animosity probably dated back to the time when they began to develop their cultures. This war-making mentality caused them to work constantly and to expend much of their resources to invent armaments that they could use to more efficiently kill one another, which by 1492 made them the best-armed people in the world. Thus, when they used their horrendous war-making capabilities on the indigenous citizens of the civilizations of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia, it was no contest. The people of these continents were slaughtered with impunity and their properties confiscated without compensation.

• They were ruled over by brutal aristocrats, who often plotted and schemed against one another and often unseated a ruling relative and executed him or her.

• They used humans as work animals (slavery).

• Women and children were not much more than the chattels of men.

• They had corrupt judges and magistrates to convict people, many of whom were more often than not innocent, of what were then capital crimes such as murder, theft, witchcraft, heresy, etc. Then they executed their victims by burning at the stake, hanging, decapitation, pressing, and other barbaric methods. These executions were public affairs and public attendance was often mandatory. To add to the effort to keep citizens terrorized and subservient, the heads of the executed were often placed on display on spikes on bridges and other locations, and the bodies of the hanged were often left for crows and vultures to feast upon.

•European countries were rife with bedlams, where living conditions were mostly abhorrent. They were created to house the mentally ill and many sane, elderly, unwanted relatives of heartless individuals were often interned in them. The main function of these establishments was to segregate, not to cure. Some aristocrats took pleasure in visiting them on Sundays for entertainment.

• Debtors’ prisons were well-used. Families of debtors were often left to starve. In We Were Not the Savages, I included an instance of such in Annapolis Royal.

• Starvation and malnutrition were common among the poor.

• Also common was castrating young boys with sweet voices to preserve their voices longer for the enjoyment of the aristocrats and the empowered.

• Greed was rampant. Although professing to follow the teachings of the Christian God, greed for the accumulation of worldly goods and power over others were the overriding motivating factors propelling European culture forward. Many would agree that it still is the main engine.

• Europeans were members of a class system that mandated that those at the lowest levels bow and scrape and pay homage to their “betters,” level by level, up to the king or queen, who had only God above them.

I don’t think very many readers would contribute large amounts of cash to a scientist in the hope that he or she would invent a time machine that would send them back to enjoy the “pleasures” of that European era.

In contrast, let’s take a look at Mi’kmaq society of that time — and I’m not making reference to the Incas, Aztecs, or any of the other hundreds of cultures that existed in the Americas in 1492.

Leaders were appointed by the people. The Mi’kmaq had child care, adoptions, and women and children were treated with respect. If a couple didn’t click, divorce was available. Honour and sharing were the cornerstones of the society — greed was practically unknown. Food was plentiful; no one went hungry. The Mi’kmaq likely had one of the highest standards of living in the world. There were no slaves, no burnings at the stake, no hangings, no bedlams, no debtors’ prisons, no terrorism, etc. Above all, there was no class system — no “betters” among them.

Conclusion: When Europeans invaded the Americas and used the following rationale for their barbaric behaviour — they had a Christian duty to “civilize” the indigenous peoples of the two continents — it was a case of what some would label the uncivilized trying to civilize the civilized (unless one uses the ability to conduct warfare and an inhuman warlike mentality as the standard for civilization).

A short quote from a 1867 speech by the Honourable Joseph Howe: “The Indians who fought your forefathers were open enemies, and had good reason for what they did. They were fighting for their country, which they loved, as we have loved it in these latter years ... ”

I agree with Canfield that the British issued proclamations for the scalps of Mi’kmaq men, women and children on two occasions: 1744 and 1749. The French also issued a scalp proclamation for the scalps, or capture, of British soldiers. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that the Mi’kmaq chiefs ever met and issued such a decree.

When reading the history of the period, I have often seen evidence that British civilians were also afraid of the bounty hunters that were organized by British officialdom to collect Mi’kmaw scalps. When the opportunity arose, they sometimes collected the scalps of Caucasians. By 1751, there were three British militias collecting scalps.

Now, for Boileau: the inaccuracies in his piece are many.

He states the Mi’kmaq were a conquered people. The Peace and Friendship treaties the British signed with our people paint his statement as false.

Although the British treacherously entered into them as a means to pacify our people until such time as they could be overcome, the fact is that there is no land concession in them. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled these treaties to be valid and, consequently, talks are underway between the Mi’kmaq, Canadian and Nova Scotia governments over a settlement.

I believe the William the Conqueror statue that he states sits outside the British House of Parliament is actually that of King Richard I (the Lionheart).

He states that there is no movement in England to remove the statue of him from its perch. If it were William, he would be absolutely correct; why should there be?

William was a foreign invader, but that matters little. He spoke no English because English at the time was a developing language, and he wasn’t the only king of England who could speak no English, simply because that throne has often been occupied by non-English-speaking individuals. The royal families of Europe often arranged marriages between their relatives to cement alliances, etc. Even the present English royal family has more foreign blood in it than English blood. Prince Philip is not English; he is of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and Elizabeth II, a relative of the Kaiser, did not take his surname (Mountbatten) when they married — too Germanic sounding. Because of centuries of intermarriages, most of the royal houses of Europe are related.

The cruelty the British used to subjugate and then degrade the Mi’kmaq vividly demonstrates that their policy of ridding the province of them never deviated from 1713 till Canada’s founding in 1867. However, their genocidal effort in Nova Scotia wasn’t unusual; they used the same barbarism subjugating other First Nations in all of their North American colonies.

The records show that many lofty English officials were very imaginative in finding ways to achieve their evil goals.

Among them, germ warfare. The following is an excellent example of their racist mentality in action. In July 1763, General Jeffery Amherst, the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, sent a memo to Colonel Henry Bouquet, a Huguenot in the service of England, asking: “Could it not be contrived to send the Smallpox among the disaffected Tribes of Indians?”

Bouquet replied: “I will try to inoculate the Indians with some blankets that may fall into their hands, and take care not to get the disease myself.”

Amherst answered: “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians by means of blankets.” Amherst’s contempt for the Indians is amply reflected in his journals and correspondence, though it may perhaps be doubted whether he was more bigoted than the average official of his time.

As for Glooscap, the Mi’kmaq Creator? Where in the name of heavens did that come from? Glooscap was the mythical helper of the Great Spirit, not Him.

By the way, I believe it would be very difficult to find a well-informed African American in the United States who would not love to see the Jefferson statue come down and the Jefferson/Davis Highway renamed, along with many other white supremacist items on display.

In view of what happened in Charleston, S.C., it will be most difficult to realize. In that state, it took the deaths of nine innocent black people to get the Confederate flag off of the State Capitol grounds, and even then it happened with much Caucasian opposition.

There was nothing noble about the Confederate cause. Its aim was to continue with the horrific practice of using humans as unpaid work animals, yet a great many Caucasians still hold it in high esteem!

Boileau’s suggestion that the Mi’kmaq were dupes of the Acadiens and priests and were not intelligent enough to recognize that they had to fight the British to attempt to preserve their civilization is not worthy of comment.

I will say this: both Canfield and Boileau should read We Were Not the Savages. Perhaps then they can speak with knowledge of the horrors that were visited upon the Mi’kmaq by the British.

In the final analysis, the British, French and other Europeans had no business being in the Americas in the first place “discovering” properties, artifacts, slaves, destroying civilizations, etc., in an attempt to satisfy the insatiable greed of their elites.

My hat always goes off to my ancestors who fought valiantly, in the face of what proved to be insurmountable odds, to protect their country, freedom and democracy against a people that knew no mercy. Just keep in mind that because of racism, we lived in abject poverty and with very little legal recourse in this province and country until recent times.

In any event, Mr. Canfield and Mr. Boileau: If I came to your houses with an army and “discovered” them and your property and other wealth and claimed it all as my own, and you had no other recourse, would you not be inclined to use all methods at your command to fight to repel me?

Let’s not honour barbarism. Cornwallis should not be erased from history books, but, because of what he did, he should be relegated to them exclusively.

Mi’kmaw Elder Daniel N. Paul is the author of several books, chapters and forwards for several others, a book reviewer, and writer of hundreds of newspaper columns, magazine stories, etc. He is a member of the Orders of Canada and of Nova Scotia. He has lectured at many universities in North America, high schools and elsewhere.